‘Grand Tour’s Jeremy Clarkson Out Of Action For “Quite Some Time” With Pneumonia

UPDATE, with Amazon statement: The Grand Tour co-host Jeremy Clarkson has been diagnosed with pneumonia, forcing a break from work for “quite some time.” The former Top Gear star was admitted to a hospital while on a family vacation in Mallorca on Friday. On Sunday, he posted a note on his Grand TourDriveTribe saying, “I’ll be out of action for quite some time apparently. It’s really really annoying because I’ve never had one day off work since I started in 1978.”

Production had already begun on Season 2 of the expensive Amazon Prime motoring show and Clarkson was due to return to shooting next week. This is the second bump in the road for the series this summer after co-host Richard Hammond was hospitalized in June following a fiery accident in Switzerland. He suffered a fractured knee after climbing Hemburg Hill in an electric super car that crashed and then burst into flames.

The Grand Tour was a key pillar of Amazon’s global rollout late last year. A spokesperson for the show told Deadline today, “Once the team knows more about the condition of (Clarkson’s) health, they will work to ensure the filming schedule supports his full recovery.”

Hammond and James May, who rounds out the trio of Top Gear hosts who segued from the BBC to Amazon for The Grand Tour, commented today (in typical fashion) on Clarkson’s health.

Wrote Hammond in response to Clarkson’s “out of action” post: “Wow. I didn’t know he had a job.”

May chimed in: “CLARKSON IS POORLY UPDATE: With each day that passes, the chances that Jeremy Clarkson will recover are greatly improved. We must prepare ourselves for the worst.”

Earlier he had posted on DriveTribe: “CLARKSON IS POORLY IS UPDATE: Jeremy Clarkson has pneumonia. Symptoms include coughing, sweating, shivering, and feeling generally unwell. So how do we know?”